I wonder if Maine will see any red balloons (http://www.10balloonies.com/2009/12/enlisting-geocachers-for-darpa.html) this Saturday?

Haffy

12-03-2009, 05:45 PM

I did notice on a FB post that Jeremy Irish of Groundspeak fame is going to donate the 40 grand plus 10 extra grand to Donorschoose.org programs if they find all 10 balloons. I'm sure he has many geocachers out there waiting for the day to come.

They won't be available for finding til Saturday the 5th for one day only.

Another site to check out the info. http://www.insidegnss.com/node/1781#Baseband_Technologies_Inc_

Haffy

12-03-2009, 06:49 PM

It seems that Jeremy Irish has created a war room for the DARPA challenge this Saturday:

http://www.10balloonies.com/

tat

12-04-2009, 01:15 PM

From Jeremy Irish, owner of Groundspeak:

"As part of the nationwide DARPA event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Interwebs, we're enlisting geocachers to be part of a fun social networking/GPS technology challenge. The challenge is to be the first to submit the locations of 10 moored, 8-foot, red, weather balloons at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States. The winner will receive $40,000. If Groundspeak wins the challenge we will throw in another $10,000 of our own money and the full $50,000 prize will go to schools that need GPS equipment through donorschoose.org (http://www.donorschoose.org/)."

tat

12-04-2009, 01:23 PM

The balloons will be flying in frequently visited, public places. They will not be in remote areas. The balloons on the east coast will only fly for about 6 hours, starting at 10am.

There are already a number of groups trying to be the first to find all 10 balloons. But, of all the posible social networks, what group could posibly be more capable than Geocachers?!!

So, make sure your instant notifications are on tomorrow and check in often.

If you do spot a balloon, make sure you send a note to darpa@groundspeak.com (darpa@groundspeak.com) as soon as posible!